Smells Like French Fries, Runs the Car; Earth-Friendly Biodiesel Catches On

By BRIEN HEFLER

You've been following the car in front of you for miles. No matter where you both go, you cannot escape a vague but persistent smell of French fries. But nobody in the car ahead is eating anything. Hunger begins to set in.

Blame Ralph Packer.

The R.M. Packer Company, which supplies all the Texaco stations on the Island with fuel, began mixing and distributing biodiesel -- a fuel at least partially derived from plants - from its facility on the Vineyard Haven waterfront on Earth Day in 2004. The only type he sold was B-20, so called because it blends 20 per cent vegetable oil (and a little alcohol) with 80 per cent No. 2 fuel oil. But with the sharp increase in the price of gasoline and diesel this summer, the market for alternative fuels is growing stronger, and Mr. Packer plans at the end of this year to meet the Island demand by supplying new and purer types of biodiesel.

The biodiesel sold on the Vineyard begins its life in the soybean fields of the Midwest. There the crop is processed, loaded into railroad tank cars and shipped as pure biodiesel - known as B-100 - to the Loud Fuel Company in North Falmouth. Mr. Packer picks up the undiluted B-100 in a tanker truck and ships it to the Island. Once here, the company blends the pure biofuel with petrodiesel to produce B-20. Diesel trucks, cars and even home heating systems can run - without modification - on all types of biodiesel, but B-20 is the blend most distributors sell these days, and until this week, it was the only type you could buy on the Island. That's because the Packer company faced challenges mixing and distributing it. Undiluted B-100 must be kept separate from all other types of fuel. The trucks that carry B-100 must be flushed and cleaned before they can transport it.

But Mr. Packer has taken delivery of a two-tank truck that will speed the mixing and distribution - and even allow those who want to use B-100 the chance to buy and use the purest grade. The truck, built in 1988, is in the Packer shop this week, being painted an environmental green and made ready to deliver both types of biodiesel to filling stations, commercial depots, and home heating oil tanks. (The Packer company will begin to distribute B-10, a blend called bioheat, to homes in January.)

"We've been somewhat handicapped because of truck type. We have to take the current truck out, flush it and put the biodiesel back in," Mr. Packer said last week. "This way we will be able to put B-100 into one unit and B-20 in the other unit and make a little more prompt deliveries."

Biodiesel can come from many types of vegetables - even the fats and oils left over from restaurant Fryolators. In the case of soybeans, the bean is crushed in a process called transesterification. The juice from the bean is blended with alcohol to produce pure biodiesel. (Glycerin is a byproduct, and is often sold by biofuel manufactures to soap producers.)

Until the end of August, when Hurricane Katrina knocked out oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, B-20 - sold at the N.J. deBettencourt and Sons service station on New York avenue in Oak Bluffs, and the Texaco Shell station at the head of the harbor in Vineyard Haven - looked forbiddingly expensive at $3.50 a gallon. But that price has risen only six or seven cents this fall, as petrodiesel has climbed to $3.21. With production in the Gulf still out, and wells in the Middle East working at or near capacity, it is possible that certain grades of biodiesel may soon cost less than the petro variety.

"That is certainly a possibility if diesel prices continue to climb," said Jenna Higgens, the director of communications for the National Biodiesel Board, a nonprofit trade association in Missouri.

The cost of biodiesel turns mainly on the price of soybeans and the cost to ship around the country. Since biodiesel is a relatively new industry, demand is much lower than for traditional fossil fuels, which makes transportation volumes low and costs high.

"The issue now is, think of a movement of millions of gallons of diesel a day, and biodiesel transported [only] in the thousands. Right down through the whole supply chain it's not high volume. But once it is, I think you'll see the price go down," Mr. Packer said. Two biodiesel plants are in the planning stages in Massachusetts, which is expected help to increase production and lower costs here. Another biodiesel plant, capable of distilling 30 million gallons per year, will soon be built in Seabrook, Tex.

Ms. Higgens said sales have risen from 500,000 gallons in 1999, the first year of large biodiesel production, to over 25 million gallons last year. Buyers often share a particular concern for the environment and have shown a willingness to pay more to protect it. B-100 cuts carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide emission by more than 50 per cent and virtually eliminates sulfur emission.

Brendan O'Neill, executive director of the Vineyard Conservation Society, helped launch the biodiesel program on the Island last year. He fills up with B-20 on the Island, and this summer bought B-100 at the Loud Fuel Company, located on Thomas Landers Road in Falmouth.

"It's best to run the B-100 if you really want to get the full biodiesel smell and the satisfaction of knowing you're running on a renewable, nontoxic, domestically produced alternative to diesel fuel," Mr. O'Neill said. "On the Vineyard, with the Island nature of the place and the importance that we put on the projection of our surface and groundwater, it is a way, if it catches on, where we could be talking about keeping pollutants out of the ponds, the harbors and, ultimately I guess, the drinking water supply."

The Packer company has been using B-20 in its own trucks for seven months. Nstar, the electric company, is also using it. Michael Duran, spokesman for the firm, said workers generally prefer the B-20 to straight diesel because it has a much better smell. Mr. O'Neill compares it to the smell of a fast food restaurant. Mr. Packer thinks it's more Italian.

"Maybe like olive oil," he said. "It feels like olive oil and it has a very pleasant smell. I suppose you could probably burn olive oil in your car too."

Biodiesel does have disadvantages. Pure biodiesel tends to congeal at the same temperature water freezes - though the Loud company on the Cape is looking at additives that may allow B-100 to be used at colder temperatures. B-20 does not congeal, no matter how cold it gets.

"To give you an idea, they use B-20 at Glacier National Park [in Montana] year-round," Ms. Higgens said.

Another concern: biodiesel can damage natural rubber, meaning it cannot be used in most unmodified engines built before 1993, when many gaskets were made of rubber. And the purest biodiesel acts as a solvent, stirring up impurities left in older engines, which can cause filters to clog. Ms. Higgens said for the first six months or so of biodiesel use, engine filters and older oil tanks in the home should be checked regularly.

And then there is the question of price. State and federal taxes add about 45 cents per gallon to the price of biodiesel for road use. A federal tax incentive, established this year, offers a dollar rebate for every gallon of biodiesel purchased by blenders such as Mr. Packer, who said he is trying to pass on the savings on to consumers.

Though the purchase of the new two-tank truck suggests a certain faith in the emerging biodiesel market, Mr. Packer said last week that he is not yet clear how much demand will grow on Martha's Vineyard.

"I don't know yet; people are becoming very conscious of the environment and they are willing to spend a little more to accomplish this. I think we are all trying to participate in energy conservation, and going in a direction to relieve the great pressure on petroleum products; we are trying to do our part."

Only time will smell.

Tom Dunlop contributed to this story.